? 6.5 284

I think the barrel length is killing you. I have only been successful getting accuracy with the 140's @ 2850-2925 and thats with 30" of barrel. I like 4831SC and H4350 BUT if your looking for speed see if you can get RL 17 to work that seems to give great velocity's but not all guns like it.

IMO, barrel length and not loading quite enough powder is at least part of the issue with getting slow velocities.

In all honesty, if we can only get 2700'/sec then we're probably better off just shooting a 260.

I felt Hodgdons data was a little on the soft end, especially after looking up data on the original 284 Winchester with heavier bullets. They used to run 55-57 grains of H 4831 in the 284 with 160-168 bullets at 2700'/sec. I couldn't think of any reason that 55 grns wouldn't work in the 6.5 version beings we're only shooting 140 grn slugs.

I didn't personally see any pressure signs until I hit 56 grns of powder, and Len said he didn't either in his rifle which is about identical to mine as far as I know. There appears to be an accuracy node at around 2950-3025'/sec in my 26" Brux.

In virgin Norma or Lapua brass 57grn of H1000 or 59grns of Retumbo with 215M primers and the 140 berger at an oal around 3.150" +or- .010" will give you 2930 to 2960 in a 24" tube. I run 60.3grns of retumbo in neck sized Norma under a 140 berger at 3.174" for 3076fps in a 26" tube and that's my node, but my barrel is a 8.3 twist instead of an 8, so they need to be run a tid bit slower.

I am getting 2941 out of my 24" Savage with 53 gr. of H4831sc, about 20fps more out of my 26" Cooper. No pressure signs unless I get too close to the lands with the 140 VLD's . I use .075". You can get another 50-75 FPS with Retumbo with 57-59 grs. I think 2950-3020 is the sweet spot for this cartridge and bullet for hunting ou to 1000 yards or a little more.